Sen. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) and other Tea Partiers voted against a proposed extension of three Patriot Act provisions Tuesday. Getty

February 9, 2011

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The House's attempt to fast-track a three-year extension of key provisions of the Patriot Act failed to pass on Tuesday, falling just seven votes shy. The measure would have allowed the FBI to continue to use roving wiretaps and access "any tangible items" — such as library records — in their efforts to identify terrorists. The extension will likely be resurrected again before month's end, and find its way to the Senate. Still, Tea Party-backed politicians have signaled their opposition, and liberal Democrat Dennis Kucinich had said last night's vote would be "the Tea Party's first test." In the end, 26 House Republicans voted against the measure. Was the Tea Party responsible for its failure? (Watch an AP report about the vote)

Actually, most Tea Partiers voted with party leadership: The Tea Party had nothing to do with it, says Steve Benen at Washington Monthly. Only eight GOP freshmen voted against the extension, and 44 of the 52 members of the House Tea Party caucus voted in favor of it. Even noted Tea Party leaders like Michele Bachmann joined the GOP leadership in voting for it. "Tea Partiers, in other words, generally backed the bill.""House GOP comes up short on Patriot Act"

The Tea Party could still help defeat the Patriot Act: It may not be too late for a "genuine left-right alliance against the political establishment's relentless assaults on civil liberties," says Glenn Greenwald at Salon. If Tea Party conservatives teamed up with liberal Democrats to oppose the "Washington insiders who rule both parties," the next vote might fail. That alliance is "both tenable and necessary." Can the Tea Party deliver?"The Tea Party and civil liberties"